CHENNAI: Are teachers who dole out stern punishments as “corrective measures” not guilty of abetting suicides? Though the High Court on Friday said they are not, several stakeholders feel the issue is more nuanced. Experts say teachers and the education system, at large, are not equipped to handle students facing a mental health crisis. More importantly, students need safe spaces where they can express themselves freely.
Psychiatrist Vivian Kapil says unreasonable expectations and pressure from teachers are common causes of “extreme stress” in students. “A Class-IX boy who visited me two weeks ago had a severe meltdown. I found out later that one of his teachers had announced his marks in public and humiliated him,” says Kapil.
“Though the boy is smart, he does not have the ability to meet the academic demands of rote learning.” Vivian Kapil says that the teacher, in this case, had the responsibility of empathising with the student. Instead, he was humiliated. “Also, teachers are the resource persons who must spot symptoms of deviant or self-destructive behaviour in children.”
Former vice-chancellor of Manomaniam Sundaranar University V Vasanthi Devi blames it on the workload. “Given the amount of work dumped on teachers, they barely have time to provide individual attention. Suicides are a systemic problem. Teachers cannot be blamed when there is staff shortage and 60 children in each class.”
Vasanthi Devi says teachers must be trained to be sensitive. “But there are two major hurdles to that. One, they are evaluated based on the pass percentage, highest marks and ranks secured by their students. Two, they are trained at training institutes that do not understand the nuances of mental health.”
“In the case of Anitha (the young girl who killed herself for not qualifying NEET), do you blame the teacher or the society which had high expectations from the student?” asks Vasanthi Devi. While welcoming the judgment, she said there was an urgent need to make the system less competitive and also sensitise teachers.
President of TN postgraduate teachers’ association KPO Suresh says teachers are not equipped to counsel students facing mental stress. “Government must make it mandatory to appoint counsellors in schools. Students must be taught to accept and deal with failure in examinations and life.”
“Teachers who harass students by humiliating them and putting excessive pressure on them must be held partly accountable if the student commits suicide,” says S Arumainathan, president of TN students’ parents’ welfare association. PK Ilamaran, president of TN Teachers’ Association says increasing sensitivity of students shows the system is unstable.